Ruling backs Minot train derailment victims

An appeals court frees residents near Minot, N.D., to pursue their damage claims. The railroad's attorney vows to fight.

By JAMES WALSH, Star Tribune

Last update: July 2, 2008 - 8:44 PM

A legal battle waged between victims of a 2002 train derailment outside Minot, N.D., and the railroad may be heading back to state court for resolution, after a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling Wednesday.

The federal courts had ruled that victims couldn't seek damages in state courts.

Not any more, said David Cialkowski, an attorney with Zimmerman Reed who represents plaintiffs in the case. "I would think those efforts will be renewed," he said.

In January 2002, 31 cars of a Canadian Pacific freight train derailed, releasing anhydrous ammonia into the air, killing one and injuring hundreds of people.

Last year, U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum dismissed 31 lawsuits filed by victims, ruling that the Federal Railroad Safety Act preempted state court jurisdiction of any claims. He also ruled that the law provided no relief for victims in the case.

Attorneys appealed, and while those appeals were pending, they took their battle to Congress, which last year amended the law -- stating that victims can indeed sue for damages. The appeals court pointed to that amendment Wednesday, ruling 2-1 that the law now allows victims to make their case in state court after all.

In its ruling regarding Lundeen vs. the Canadian Pacific Railway, the appeals court said that the amendment is constitutional and ordered the case back to U.S. District Court, which should then send it back to state court.

Robert Hopper, another attorney for Zimmerman Reed, said the amendment simply clarified Congress' intent that the Federal Rail Safety Act shouldn't close the door to those victims' claims when it wrote the original law in 1970. "We went to Congress and simply asked, 'What did you mean?'" Hopper said.

But Timothy Thornton, an attorney for Canadian Pacific, said his client will seek a rehearing and, if necessary, review by the U.S. Supreme Court. The appeals court judge who dissented in the ruling, C. Arlen Beam, wrote that the appeals court misapplied the amendment and that federal law still should preempt state jurisdiction in the case.

"Everything we had to say, Judge Beam said," Thornton said. "It's far from over."

James Walsh • 612-673-7428